Appeal No. 96-1256
Application 08/257,080
Stier 3,967,851 July 06,
1976
Fujiwara 4,668,010 May 26,
1987
Nomura et al. (Nomura) 5,106,160 Apr. 21,
1992
Sinnhuber 5,277,441 Jan.
11, 1994
(filed Feb. 24, 1992)
Claim 42 stands finally rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
unpatentable over Nomura, Freedman, Stier or Fujiwara in view
of Neale and Sinnhuber. 2
On pages 2 and 3 of the final rejection (Paper No. 5),
the examiner states the basis of the rejection thus:
It would have been obvious to provide
any one of the above listed primary
references, with a movable armrest carried
by the seat in a disposition located
outboard of the seat, in an automotive
environment with a door located adjacent
thereto as taught by Neale et al in order
to provide ease of access and an airbag in
an armrest deployable into an intermediate
area between seat and door on lateral
impact as taught by Sinnhuber in order to
protect against side impacts. See col. 4,
line 29 for the teaching of Sinnhuber
2In the supplemental answer, the examiner also referred
to Simsic patent 5,224,733, but that patent has been given no
consideration since it was not positively included in the
rejection. Ex parte Raske, 28 USPQ2d 1304, 1305 (Bd. Pat.
App. & Int. 1993).
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007